DONE

It is done!!!  Before Rhonda or Wannietta asks, I did sew it together by myself and even sewed in all the ends.

The pattern called for buttonholes and I did consider them.  We have some great buttons from Lantern Moon that would looked amazing.  Usually the front band is knit as a separate piece and attached at the end which makes it a bit easier for button placement. This jacket the front is all one piece so I would have put the buttonholes in while knitting the front.  I wasn't sure where I wanted them-one at the top, three going part way down like the pattern calls for or all the way to the bottom?  Then I looked at the shawl pins and the glass pin from Moving Mud was perfect.  Decision made, no buttonholes.

Here is another picture from a different angle.  I like looking at the jacket.  :)

The amazing part about me knitting this is that I hate doing moss stitch.  Normally I won't look at a pattern that has it but I loved this jacket so much that it didn't matter.

This is going to be a week of finishing

I have been away from the computer for the past 2 days.  Saturday was crazy busy in the store-I'm not complaining-it makes the day go much quicker.  I came home, moved to the couch and knit.

I can't stop watching Grey's Anatomy.  No commercials makes it so much better.  It also helps when knitting because you don't have to put down your knitting to fast forward through commercials.

Sunday morning I woke with a migraine so spend some time in bed.  When I got up it was time to knit again.  The Super Bowl was okay.  I wanted Indy to win but the Saints winning doesn't upset me.  The game was fairly boring though.  I wish they had moved the ball up and down the field more.  What was with the commercials???  CTV over road the US feed and we saw the same 6 commercials over and over again.  We know that the Olympics is coming this week!!!!

The collar is done on my Debbie Bliss jacket.  I need to sew in the sleeves and done!

Rochdale is from Rowan 46 (the fall magazine) and is knit in Big Wool. I started it and then it was set aside for a while.

When I finished the knitting on my Debbie Bliss jacket I pulled this out and finished all the knitting on it as well.  After I sew the shoulder seams I can pick up and do the collar.

Have you read the Yarn Harlot in the past few days?  The Knitting Olympics are back on.  For those of you who don't belong to Ravelry but want to compete, please go to her blog and sign up.  Rules are the same as four years ago.  you can't start before the opening ceremonies and you have to be finished by closing ceremonies.

I need to get moving.  There are lots of chores to be done today.

Fresco

I am watching CNN and the big news is the huge storm hitting the Washington DC area.  It got me thinking that we are still due for our major snow storm.  Maybe I should be showing you some exciting winter yarns because it could be a while before spring is here.

Korey and I have been working on adding some new yarns to the website.  Fresco from Classic Elite is up now.

Classic Elite does a web-letter weekly with great patterns.   Emma knit the Basketwhip Cowl for us.  Heaven!!  Two skeins of Fresco-wool, alpaca and angora.

Here are a few more patterns using Fresco.

Snowdrop Scarf

Snowflake Hat

Fresco might also be familiar to you because Jared Flood used it in his book Made in Brooklyn for two great hats.

Beaumont in four colours.

Beaumont in two colours using a larger needle for the crown.

I spent some time knitting last night and got the second sleeve done. Now onto the collar.

The Y&R is going to be very interesting over the next few weeks.  Emily and Patty.  We all know where that story is going but still can't wait to see it.  Is everyone going to figure out all of Adam's little secrets?  I called the Victor/Adam/Tucker story line before they revealed it in the show-wish I had blogged it.  Daisy and Ryder.  I usually fast forward when they are on but I am looking forward to finding out who their mother is.

The battery on my computer is about to run out so I am going to sign off, plug it in and pick up my knitting.

New camera

Many years ago we bought a digital camera.  It was a great camera but neither of us actually read the book as to how to use it properly.  There were a million settings and we never got it right.  Then I was using my iPhone to take pictures.  Not bad but no flash.  Last night we had to run to Best Buy and while we were there I bought a new camera.  A Nikon Coolpix (you probably have seen it in TV commercials).  I can put it to SCENE and it picks the proper setting.  It is much smaller than the other camera and will now fit in my purse.

You know what this means-more blog pictures!!

Roko does not like it when Beth knits.  He is sitting on the couch at her elbow sulking.  After a bit he will jump across to my couch and try and sit on me.  Beth says 'can you just love him for a bit?' and then I have to put down my knitting until he tires of me.

This is the new Revive from Rowan. Great colours. I want to knit with it!! Will it be my Olympic knitting??

Here is my sleeve.  I am about half way done.  I forgot that a sleeve can take a while to knit-as you go there are more and more stitches on the needle.  I am going to sign off and knit for a bit-I want this done so I can move onto something else.

Working through my UFOs

I must say that I am loving the new format for Blogger. I preview before I hit post and now the preview looks like the post.

My chores for the day are done.
-Call my financial advisor.  I need to get my RSP contributions made
-Call the TV guy.  Right now I can't change the channel on the TV in the store-I have to run upstairs.  With the Olympics about to start I will need to be changing channels.
-Return phone calls from yesterday
-Place orders

Now I am going to pull out my knitting.

Here is the body of my Debbie Bliss cabled jacket.   Fronts and back are done and joined at the shoulders.  One sleeve is done and the second sleeve is on row 11.  Can I get it done today??

Why am I showing a bunch of towels rolled up?  This is my big cabled scarf. Originally I had it laid out on towels but because it is so long it was folded back three times.  I was afraid that if I left it that way I would end up with fold lines. To prevent these lines I have rolled it up-it took four huge bath towels.

I am still at a loss as to what I am going to knit for the Olympics. I want something that will give me a challenge but it has to get finished in two weeks.

I am knitting away

Everything in my life is on hold right now so that I can get this jacket done. The first front is done and joined to the back (gotta love the three needle bind off). I quickly basted in the sleeve for the picture. The second front has been cast on and I am done the first twelve rows of moss stitch.

We received a surprise shipment of Noro yesterday. In Kureyon there are three colours from the past.

52-blue, purple and green

161-rust, brown, green and purple/pink

183-green, turquoise, grey and beige

Damn Noro. 52 will work great in my new Log Cabin Afghan. 161 and 183 are perfect for my Lizard Ridge. I am supposed to be finishing off other projects!!!

In Silk Garden we received a colour that I don't think I have seen before and I definitely want a sweater out of

248-beige, green, peach and purple.

How about the Y&R right now? I am thoroughly enjoying it. Even Beth is watching. Victor and Jack working together to get Tucker. Jill and Katherine fighting again-I am so happy about this because when they were friends it was very boring. Billy going after Adam with the help of many others. Great TV!!!

Productive Knitting Day

Yesterday was spent sitting on the couch knitting and watching football. I didn't even take time to change out of my pyjamas. The back of my jacket is done and I am at the armhole shaping on the first front.

My plan is to have this done before the Olympics start. The Olympics-that poses another problem. I will have to start something new for Ravelympics. The Yarn Harlot starting 'the Knitting Olympics' in 2006. You couldn't start your project until the opening ceremonies and it had to be finished by the closing ceremonies. Now we take part on Ravelry. You can join teams (I will be with Team Canada) and compete.

The football yesterday was great-the teams I wanted to win did. Now the problem will be the Super Bowl-who to root for. I like both teams but am leaning towards Indy.

Meet Chloe. I just had Madame Samm in buying yarn to make hair and we got talking about her dolls. Please check out her blog, Sew Dolls, who's next? There will be a drawing on Wednesday for Chloe.

Madame Samm had five dolls with her. They are absolutely beautiful. If you have a little girl and need a gift take a look at these.

I'm Back

For the past few weeks I have been in a knitting rut. I think it might have coincided with my New Year's Resolution of not starting anything new. Anytime I looked at my current knitting I just turned up my nose and decided that I didn't feel like knitting that day.

Yesterday I took the back of my Debbie Bliss tweed jacket to work and finished a few rows. Last night while watching TV (Barrett-Jackson auction) I finished to the armholes. Look out-I am back!!!

Here is another one of my all day blog posts. I started this before I left for work this morning and it is now 6pm.

I took out some needles and swatched the new Aya from Noro. I think that the yarn is a double knitting weight-22 stitches to 4" on 4mm needles. Great news. You can use the Aya for any pattern calling for Silk Garden Lite or Chirimen.

I haven't forgotten about my blog

It has been a crazy last few days.

Friday afternoon I tweaked something in my back. Nothing earth shattering, just annoying. I woke up Saturday morning and couldn't bend over. Beth had to help me put my socks on and realized that I couldn't work in the store alone. She spent the morning with me until my back loosened up. There are two things wrong with this picture-she was out of bed before noon on a Saturday and she worked in the yarn shop. The day was extremely busy (thanks to everyone who visited) and I was exhausted when I got home.

Sunday was spent on the couch watching football. I did get some knitting accomplished on my jacket. I am almost to the armhole shaping.

The DVR was set to tape The Amazing Race but something went wrong and it didn't tape so we had to tape it at 11pm. There were thoughts of watching it but that meant getting to bed after 1am and that would not have been good for working yesterday.

Jane is away right now so I am working on Mondays for the next couple of weeks. It's not a big deal but Monday is my day to get caught up on book work, write newsletters, etc, etc so I tried to do some of that in the store yesterday-hence no blog post.

Last night I spent an hour after work getting all the mail orders done and then it was off to watch The Amazing Race. Wouldn't it be awful to be picked for the show and then lose the first challenge meaning that you don't even get to start the race??? I am rooting for the two Harlem Globetrotters. There are a few teams that I can't root for already. Maria and Tiffany. Sorry Maria but I have watched Tiffany on TV playing poker and there is no way I am rooting for that girl. Is Lance really a lawyer? Annoying and arrogant. Two very good reasons I won't be rooting for you. Beth picked Meghan and Cheyne. Not sure how they will do, the final challenge was almost their undoing.

Sleeve one is done

I spent yesterday sitting on the couch watching football and knitting. The first sleeve is done on my Cabled Coat. The back has been cast on, bottom border is done and I am 4 rows into the pattern. By 11 last night my eyes were very tired and I had to go to bed. If I could of I would have continued knitting but I had to come to work this morning-sleep was kind of important. Unfortunately the end of the football game last night was very good and I missed it.

It sure feels like fall outside today. Cooler and rain. I am good with the cooler weather (much better for wearing sweaters) but the rain can go away.

I have been working on my fashion show for Knitting Camp this morning. I have all the garments in my possession which takes a bit of the stress out of it. A few years ago we were promised garments and they didn't show up. The brochure had already been printed so throughout the show I had to keep saying "#30 isn't here, #39 isn't here". It made it look like we threw the fashion show together when we had been planning it for months.

Drop Collar Cable Jacket

Yesterday I showed a picture of my next project. I started knitting about 5pm last night and finished about 40 rows on the sleeve before going to bed at 11pm. I would have been happy to continue knitting but knew that I had to get up and go to work today.

Ravelry is a great research tool and I used it to look at this jacket. Many people said that it knit up bigger than the pattern said (suggesting to other knitters that they knit one size smaller than you think you need) so I started on a sleeve to see how much bigger.

The Luxury Tweed Chunky is nice to knit with - the angora in it makes it very soft but it isn't fluffy.

I received an email from Namaste yesterday that the red Hermosa bags should be leaving California this week which means I should have them the beginning of October.

New Project

I have picked my next project. I was going to knit with Rowan Colourscape Chunky but then the Luxury Donegal Tweed from Debbie Bliss arrived. This jacket was in the fall/winter 2008 Debbie Bliss magazine which is now sold out but you can buy the pattern on the Vogue Knitting website (which I did this morning).

I brought 3 colours home to decide which I wanted. The dark chocolate brown actually won but I have another Debbie Bliss coat in brown so I changed my mind (as women are allowed to do) and will be casting on in Glade Green this afternoon.

Survivor last night was great. Russell appears to be a real &%*$%* which will make for good TV. The show is always better when there is someone for you to root against.

All of sudden I looked at the clock and it is 10:30. I am still in my PJs. Gotta run if I am going to make it to work on time.